Two headless bodies found in Egypt’s Sinai

Two headless bodies were found in a village in Egypt's restive North Sinai region on Saturday, police said, the latest in a series of beheadings allegedly carried out by Islamist militants.

The bodies of two men, believed to be civilians in their 30s, were found near the town of Sheikh Zuweid.

It was not immediately clear who had killed them.

Egypt's deadliest Islamist organization, Ansar Beit al-Maqdis, has previously claimed several beheadings of men it said were working for the Egyptian army or Israel's Mossad spy agency.

The Sinai-based group, which last year pledged allegiance to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), has regularly released video footage showing the executions of alleged informants, often by beheading.

Ansar Beit al-Maqdis (Partisans of Jerusalem) has targeted Egyptian security forces since the army ousted Islamist President Mohammad Mursi in July 2013.

Militant attacks have killed scores of security personnel, with Islamist groups claiming they are retaliating for a government crackdown on Mursi supporters.

Egypt's military has launched a widespread offensive against Islamist groups in the Sinai Peninsula.